"Gandhi," The Movie & History, Part Three

India had a social system called the "Caste System." While most strongly associated with the Hindu religion, it had adherents among some of  India's Muslims and Christians.^ This stratified social system divided Indians into various fixed groups, with little or no social mobility for people of these groups. At the bottom were the "untouchables," with people in this group often suffering terrible discrimination and ill treatment, and with no way out of their "fixed" social position at the bottom of Indian society. Mahatma Gandhi's tolerance and inclusiveness for people of various religious and political views also included his desire to improve the acceptability and the plight of the those at the lowest levels of society. In the early 1930s Gandhi undertook a fast to bring national attention to the situation of the "untouchables" and to protest a British approved plan to give "untouchables" a separate system of representation under a newly devised Indian constitution. Gandhi rejected such a division. To demonstrate inclusiveness, Gandhi preferred to call the "untouchables" the more acceptable "children of God." Gandhi's fast and his subsequent concentration for a time on the nation's social system diverted attention from the attempts to attain freedom from British colonial rule, but it was part of the Mahatma's plan to gradually bring India toward the ability to rule itself and provide a more equitable society.

Gandhi's campaign brought discussions about the overall system and it achieved the abandonment of the division of the nation's representatives in the constitution. Many Hindu leaders reconsidered, or outright reversed, their previous support for the overall social system of India. In an ominous sign, however, more orthodox Hindu elements drifted further from Gandhi's ideals of tolerance and inclusiveness.

Next, Gandhi focused his and the nation's efforts on the Indian economy. India was a land of extreme poverty, which Gandhi believed was made worse by exploitation by capitalist interests at the highest economic level, who were not ethical in their treatment of workers. Workers labored long hours, but large profits went to business owners, while the workers earned so little, they could not always get the necessary food or clothing for themselves or their families. To Gandhi, capitalists benefited far out of proportion from the labor of others. He believed the system had to be made fairer, with workers gaining proper wages and respect for the goods they helped to produce, but that workers could not let themselves fall into laziness. Needless to say, business people were not thrilled with Gandhi's ideas. In what became a trademark of Gandhi, he took to spinning his own clothes, and encouraged his Indian brethren to do the same. Why? Indian cotton was sent to England and manufactured into clothing, returning to India at prices many times the original cost. Gandhi reasoned, why not keep the cotton in India, with Indians making their own clothing and keeping the costs at a minimum? The spinning wheel became a symbol of Indian independence.^^ Gandhi likewise promoted Indian agriculture as a means to limit the country's dependence on colonial food products.^^^  Further, by gaining more independence on food and clothing products, it also weakened the British reasons for maintaining colonial rule; that was, to have a colony that produced raw materials that could then go to Britain to be processed or refined, and then returned, at least in part, to the colony for sale at handsome profits. So Gandhi's effort also had major ties to his view of gaining Indian independence from Britain. 

Next, the last part on "Gandhi"

^ Keep in mind, this was still the "large" India, which then included Pakistan and Bangladesh.

^^ Gandhi's beliefs were also critical of (then) modern technology utilized by capitalists, which replaced workers with various mechanical devices. There has always been a struggle between displaced workers and technology, but technology always wins in the end. While Gandhi correctly saw a large Indian population that needed work, work at times deprived by technology, the idea that technological advances can be held back in favor of less efficient methods of production was too idealistic, in my opinion. Understand, Gandhi did not dismiss technology in all cases, and he understood the need for mass production in more advanced nations, but he saw unemployment and under employment as one of the social ills of India, only made worse by technology.

^^^ Large landholders charged rent to small farmers on their land either in cash or by taking percentages of farm goods. At times farmers could not produce enough to pay rent and provide for their families.  

Photo is of DVD edition released in 2001 by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment.

WORD HISTORY:
Guru-This word goes back to Indo European "gru/gur," which had the notion of "heavy," which then produced the idea of "serious," and also "heavy with knowledge," which gave Sanskrit "guru," which meant "respected for knowledge;" and thus produced the eventual meaning "teacher," with the further meaning of "priest" in religious contexts. Sanskrit is an ancient Indo European language still used to some extent, often in religion, primarily in India. The word then passed to Hindi and Urdu, both common Indo European languages in India and Pakistan. The word was borrowed by English, likely in the mid to late 1700s, as India came under the firmer control of Britain, but the word didn't really spread throughout English until later, eventually expanding the meaning to the more general "adviser, mentor," with no particular association with religion. The word came into widespread usage during the late 1960s as the Beatles and other popular music groups delved into Indian religion.